♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [bells ringing]

[bells ringing] >> the coffin comes out.

[bells ringing] [bells ringing]

>> the crowd here applauding as they come down the steps after briefly pausing. behind are her two grandchildren. her majesty, the queen coming down the aisle. the family lines up to watch the coffin being placed back in the hearse. for its journey.

[bells ringing] [bells ringing]

[bells ringing] >> the the shop of london and the archbishop beside the queen. watching the coffin be placed in the hearse.

in affect the funeral is now over. [bells ringing]

[applause] [bells ringing] >> having arrived here, the coffin is driven away in the hearse. we are just watching as it goes back down, down the hill and in a way towards chelsea. [bells ringing]

>> the lord, mayor of london, on the right there. the city of london being very jealous this is their part of the city. a conversation with the queen and the thatcher family. and watching all that with me

here, and peter hennessy, professor of contemporary history. a big contemporary event. as we are watching these pictures, what would you say, peter, about the events? >> it brings out the right of passage of ceremony, the choreography, and the music. we do seem to be natural when it comes to this. it is a great right of passage where everyone stood as an individual. this is an extraordinary event. as the same way she now passes into the hands of historians. it's intriguing to speculate how the long view of history will

regard her. the queen, the duke flying the royal standard. and they will be on their way. >> how well do you think this whole morning, the ceremonial and in the service, has managed to bridge that gap between lady thatcher, the woman, the family we're talking about, the bishop was talking about, and lady thatcher the political activist who arrived in such a confusion of opinion with many people for hostile, the very things but i had a sense of the bishop of london above all wanted to do that, he talked about the gap between the mythological figure, the figure of margaret thatcher, the real market thatcher.

he said at times it would be difficult for her family to recognize the wife, the mother, the grandmother in the mythological figure. he was a little more political. he didn't just remind us of a nice story about the young poet who would written a letter to her that she reply to, worked on developing the ice cream. but he also went back over her work, one of the most controversial phrases she had ever used that no such thing as society was misunderstood, quoted another speech that should give in and tried to explain in terms of christian thinking that it was first and foremost individual. [bells ringing]

>> the rest of the family. is still in the cathedral the great gathering of, the great and powerful, and then among them, the two new zealand women who looked after lady thatcher in her final years. a great close friend was with her for a long, long time, more intimate with her then perhaps anybody who is talked a bit about her, the jokes she made, really clearly knows what lady thatcher was like in those yea years. [bells ringing]

she told a wonderful story about late late one evening baroness thatcher, lady thatcher said to her have a drink. she said no, we don't have time for gin and tonic at night. you have to drink whiskey and soda. that was the moment that made suddenly the surface laugh. when the bishop of london told a similar story about how she taken his arm and said don't have the doc patton. it's very fattening. one of the last truly honorable resignations, and his memory goes back to winston churchill.

people who form the alliance of liberal and social democrats emerge now as liberal democrats. a staunch, stout defender of her, still is, angry often spirit yorkshireman who puts up with no nonsense from anybody. >> when we, correspondence, downing street said what we meant was, he was allowed spent and charles, a close adviser there on the left, sitting next to the duchess of york, fergie. can't mistake that hair. >> his brother went on to be

tony blair's chief of staff. >> i thought the most powerful image, gabe, that we've seen is this extraordinary image of the monarch watching the coffin of a politician. if i may say, a mere politician as a work in british constitutional terms, being taken away. there was all this debate whether it was a state funeral. it was an. it was a ceremonial funeral but there was an extraordinary sight just to see the monarch waiting. >> forest johnson sitting there next to michael. >> of course, it is interesting in that way. it's also a celebration of a politician by politicians. vague, the political class, chose to have this service.

not just the present administration, gordon brown, ma before that tony blair had all the arrangements. in a way quite difficult for them. and what do you make, every ambassador loves ambassador. every politician loves a politician. they wanted politics to be seen through mrs. thatcher's life as a noble calling, whatever you thought of the policymaker. >> i think it's a recognition. if you change the jet streams of british politics, it will never return to pre-1979. they all recognize that. >> there is normand in the middle there. who was chancellor, had chancellor of acts chapter. -- chancellor of the exchequer. >> john major.

and one of the many distinguished guests, very recognizable figure. i think he is very sympathetic to her political point of view. the welsh guard played a very big part here today. not only garrison sergeant major, his brother and also all the rude liners -- rud route li. so i last worked about this just in historical context, peter. >> i think one can be sure, all

of margaret thatcher, her way of doing politics, her personality will clean to our collective national memory that any politician -- >> i think we are very unlikely to ever see in our lifetime an event of this sort. we may never see an event of this sort for politician in this way. the essential somberness of the occasion. to see the chancellor wipe away a tear from his cheek at one point. >> council of exchequer. >> we don't know if it was a tear for mrs. thatcher or a personal memory. anyone of us could have any service at that point. but one note, the cheers from the crowd again and again, they cheered, they broke into applause as if they want to say after contention and debate, we are here to cheer you on your last journey.

>> they are her friends and admirers here. anyway, thank you both very much for coming in watching. it was the leader of the opposition, ed miliband speaking, describing lady thatcher as a towering figure. and perhaps that one word that best explain the ceremonial funeral we've seen today, politicians of many parties, despite their political differences have come here to honor what they consider to be in the public sense is a towering political figure. one that inspires mixed emotions, but it was britain's first woman prime minister, dominated the political scene. and was admired for that from around the world. president obama pay tribute to the way that she made them in his words, had shown britain out to be -- is the politician, the policies that are being commemorated here very much so.

the policies, the controversies for many years to come as all political policies or. but know what i think will forget the woman who was single-minded determination won three elections in rows and impose her will on this country for over a decade. from the st. paul's cathedral, good afternoon. >> finishing up our coverage of the funeral for former british prime ministers margaret thatcher, courtesy of the bbc. the ceremony concluded. prime minister thatcher's coffin will be taken to the one hospital chelsea for private cremation later today. if you missed any of our coverage of the services you can watch it in its entirety in the c-span video library. go to c-span.org. we will re-air the funeral this coming sunday at 9 p.m. eastern. this reminder that british prime minister's question time will resume next week. you can see that light starting at 7 a.m. eastern right here on

c-span2. the u.s. senate yesterday passed a resolution honoring former british prime mr. margaret thatcher despite a fight over thwarting between senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and senate foreign relations committee chair robert menendez. the hill newspaper writing that much of the fight between the two of you to get around what the resolution would say about great britain's 1982 war with argentina over the falkland islands. according to senate aides, the two senators were working together on language late last week when senator menendez made suggestions that senator mcconnell's proposal, democratic menendez was looking to remove language that could have been seen as a swipe against other countries. the senate eventually approved it just in time for this morning's approval. the senate will return today for more work on gun legislation. they are back at 9:30 a.m. debating a number of amendments to the including the senator manchin-senator toomey amendment

or votes on that in a number of other amendments expected to take at 4 p.m. eastern and again members will be gaveling back in at 9:30 a.m. live coverage of the senate here on c-span2. >> she came into the white house. she was a 47 year-old lady who, it's well know, hated politics. she was deeply depressed at the death of her last surviving son, especially under the terrible circumstances in which he died. she didn't have many friends, unfortunately, but she did have this wonderful son who kept it going. they always seem to be someone they are. she was a shame because she was a very intellectual woman, highly educated. that intellect and that wonderful education seemed

wasted in some ways. >> our conversation on jane pierce, wife of the 14th president franklin pierce is now able on a website, c-span.org/first lady. tune in monday for our next program on first ladies mary todd lincoln. >> one of the questions i'm asked about is why did we do this. the shorter answer is that the shipment was so important about our national heritage but to naval history around the world that it needs to be preserved in the story would be passed on to future generations. that's the short answer. the more complex answer is what position the monitor still has yet unfulfilled and what facilities like the mariner's museum and education from the outreach efforts, what those things are continuing to do today to help us understand our relationship with the sea in a relationship with america and pass. spent to we are currently in

what's called the clean lab are what you expect in a normal conservation lab. so this is where final figures and artifacts are carried out. this includes chemical coating, constructing support mounts for objects, you know, doing additional cleaning in a dry and stable and private. the ultimate goal is to put these into the gallery and be able to shift much of the story of how these pubs operator, how they were made, what they were used for, their historical accounts. we know the pumps right in front of us up until almost the last moment was working hard to try to keep the ship from sinking. but, unfortunately, when the water put out the boilers, the pumps stopped moving. so it's the other things to consider is when the pump got here, the valves were still in position at its last moment. >> i think of the crew of the monitor and the things they experienced in the struggles

that they undertook to preserve the union, on how ironic it is that today, 151 years later, they are still serving the nation but in a very good that way, in a way you could never imagine, helping us understand that marine conservation. understanding about her past in helping us look forward and learn from the lessons of the past. >> this weekend booktv in american history to be look at the history and literary life of virginia beach, virginia, including more from america's new scene. this saturday at noon eastern on c-span2's booktv and sunday at five on american history tv on c-span3. >> and now a ceremony to honor congressional staffer gabriel zimmerman was shot and killed him 2011 at an event for his boss, former congresswoman gabby giffords. mr. zimmerman was one of six people killed in the tucson, arizona, shooting. gabby giffords and her husband,

mark kelly, attended this one out a thin. we hear from house speaker john boehner, nancy pelosi, and arizona senator jeff flake. good afternoon, everyone. welcome to the united states capitol. before we begin our program, all of you know about the tragedy in boston that took the lives of innocent americans and left many others in serious condition. so if you at all rise and join together in a moment of silence for the victims of this attack.

thank you all. pursuant to house resolution 364, the house visitor center room 215 of the capitol visitor center has been designated to gabriel zimmerman meeting were. they are placing commemorative plaque that you all season. this meeting and is dedicated in memory of gabe zimmerman who was shot and killed serving the people of arizona, while carrying out his duties as an aide to representative gabby giffords. his dedication to community and to the democratic process inspires all of us to help each other as fellow human beings and as citizens of a caring nation. we are honored today to be joined soon by the vice president of the united states. we're especially grateful for the members of congress that are here. gabe's colleagues, friends, and

loved ones who'v who have made y possible. with us today are also congresswoman gabby giffords, her husband mark kelly, gabe's parents, emily nottingham and ross zimmerman. and at this time of it like to invite father conway to come up and give the invocation. >> let us pray. lord, god, creator of all, the eternal wisdom, you are the glory of the leaders in the life of the just. your servant, gabe zimmerman, live in a large world, loved his family and his friends, yet chose to serve you by helping many others who serve us in government. as we gather now, we remember the constituent whisperer whose love of our world and all its

people was an inspiration to those with whom he worked. we ask your blessing as we dedicate this day in memory of gabe, but also to honor in his name all who served faithfully in the work of congress as dedicated staff to our elected representatives. me our gathering be a worthy testament to gabe, who is sorely missed still, and a thanksgiving to you, our god, for having given us such a noble, friendly soul whose spirit we pray rests now in your presence in the bosom of abraham. amen. >> if everyone will remain standing and join me for the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for